Arthur's Daughter
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: WARNING! EROTICA! After his daughter's diagnosis of cancer, Arthur's already broken world becomes more unraveled when he learns the truth about himself. Set after the events of "Arthur's Betrayal" and "Dream Collapsing". VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE GUYS! GAME CHANGER FOR A&A!
1. Chapter 1

** After his daughter's diagnosis of cancer, Arthur's already broken world becomes more unraveled when he learns the truth about himself. **

** Set after the events of "Arthur's Betrayal" and "Dream Collapsing". **

** It is very important to read "Arthur's Secrets, Arthur's Ghosts, Ariadne's Secrets, The Kick, Arthur's Betrayal and Dream Collapsing". Otherwise, it won't make any sense. **

**Arthur's Daughter**

1.

~ Arthur sat stiffly in the the doctor's office. The Point Man fighting the urge to fidget.

Darcy's new doctor was taking a long time to meet with them. The past week had been nothing but a myriad of tests on the little girl as they tried to disprove the original diagnosis of cancer.

By his side, sat the Architect. A worried look making her eyes seem larger. They were both watching Darcy play in the little waiting room with the new iPad Arthur bought her. The constant testing of the girl's blood and other things had been painful and scary for a child that age and for Arthur, it was easier to bribe her into submitting to all the needles and bad things.

He felt Ariadne lean closer to him. His wife wanted him to come back home after they found out about Darcy's illness. The Point Man and Architect putting their problems aside to focus on the little girl with curly blond hair.

"I'm sure it will be alright." Arthur whispered to her. "Doctor Rowland is the best in France."

Ariadne nodded and rested her head on Arthur's shoulder. He didn't miss the opening she gave him. His large hand covering hers. His thumb brushing over the hard sapphire of her engagement ring.

"All those times she kept saying she wasn't hungry. All the times she was so tired. If I had taken her to the doctor sooner." She said sadly.

"It wouldn't have made a difference. Leukemia is a genetic problem." Arthur said.

In the past week, he felt closer to his wife then he had ever been to anyone. They had united to fight this insidious enemy that was hurting their daughter.

The door burst open and Darcy's third doctor came in.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The doctor said as he sat at his desk and gave them a comforting smile.

"It's alright." Arthur said curtly.  
"Now, I understand I'm the third doctor you have seen about your daughter." The doctor said.

"Yes. We want her to get the best care possible." Ariadne said shifting in her seat and looking at the doctor imploringly. It was as if she were asking him to tell them the other two doctors made a horrible mistake and Darcy just had the stomach flu.

"I ran all the tests twice, just to be sure. I'm afraid it _is_ acute Leukemia." The doctor said gravely.

Ariadne started to cry as they watched Darcy play with the iPad through the waiting room window. The child unaware of how serious her condition was.

"So what happens now?" Arthur said bravely as he put an arm around his wife. Ariadne trying to cover her face.

"Now, we test you both for a possible match in bone marrow. It's the best way to beat this cancer. Darcy told me she has two brothers, full blood siblings are the best for bone marrow matching. So, we need to test them both as well."

"Oh." Arthur sat stiffly. He looked embarrassed. "It's not that easy."

The doctor looked at them, not understanding.

"We're Darcy's parents, but she is really my half sister. My father's daughter. He passed away a few years ago and her biological mother is in prison. She has no full blood siblings." Arthur explained with difficulty.

"Well, that _does_ make things more complicated." the doctor agreed sadly.

"But Arthur is still her half brother. He has a better chance of being a DNA match right?" Ariadne said hopefully.

"We can test him to make sure, but the chances are much more remote. Are there any other relatives we can test. The natural mother perhaps?" The doctor asked.

Arthur shook his head.

"Well, let's test you both. We can't be too careful. We might get lucky." The doctor said.

~ It was a simple blood test they did in the office as Darcy complained she was tired and her knees hurt.

"It's alright. We're going home now." Ariadne said kissing her blond curls.

They drove home in silence and put Darcy to bed. Mrs. Mills asking how the visit went.

"Not well." Ariadne told the nanny.

"I'm sorry ma'am." The older lady whispered sympathetically. "I've already given the boys their bath. Their playing in their room."

"Thank you Mrs. Mills." Ariadne said.

~ In their little bedroom, Arthur shed the jacket of his three piece suit and crawled into bed with Ariadne. She tried not to cry as his hands moved over her belly. Their unborn child had gone largely unspoken with all the problems surrounding Darcy.

"Did Becky have leukemia? Or anyone in her family?" Ariadne asked.

"Becky was always healthy. She lost her mother when she was 16 in a car accident. Her Dad left when she was 13." Arthur whispered.

"What about your father?" Ariadne whispered as his hands unbuttoned her blouse and exposed her flesh to him. The lace of her bra covering her as his lips dipped over her skin. Making a trail to her belly. Over a child they still had not talked very much about.

"I honestly have no idea. I never talked to my father, remember?" He said. "I can hire a private detective. Find out his entire history."  
"I'm just thinking of the boys. If it's genetic." Ariadne whispered as Arthur slipped off her bra and put his mouth on her nipples.

She started breathing hard as she allowed the Point Man to suck at her breasts. His large hands going under her skirt and rubbing the lace of her panties. This was the best way they relived tension since the diagnosis. The problems that caused Arthur to live apart from his family had not been spoken of since Ariadne cried for him to come home last week.

"We'll get the boys tested." Arthur whispered into her ear as he kissed her over and over. His long fingers rubbing and stroking her sensitive places, making her wet.  
"Arthur." She panted as she squirmed under him. Her body growing hot and helpless under his touch. "Arthur, I love you."

~ A few days later, Arthur and Ariadne were enjoying a quite evening with the kids. The Architect had left her job at Seth's company and stayed home with Darcy. The little girl already becoming too sick to go to school. Darcy had to take frequent naps these day and not understanding why she never felt good.

Arthur had also taken some time away from his work in dream extraction.

The phone rang and Arthur begrudgingly left his spot on the sofa next to Ariadne to answer it.

Ariadne went back to watching Darcy color with an app in her new iPad. It was funny how just a few years ago things were almost just like this. She was pregnant with Dominic and Darcy was coloring and Arthur came home. She was pregnant now, and except for all that had happened in just the past few years, just the past few months, it was odd how this hadn't changed.

~ "What?" Arthur was saying into the phone. "Are you sure?"

Ariadne turned around and looked at her husband. He looked shocked and angry. Arthur had a hand to his forehead in a way that made the Architect stand up.

This was serious.

"Arthur?" She asked.

The Point Man shook his head.

"You're absolutely sure?" He asked again. "Yes, of course. No, I understand. Thank you for calling. Yes, I'm glad you told me."

The Point Man hung up the phone and looked at Darcy for a long time.

"Arthur?" Ariadne asked as Darcy ignored them both and drew on her iPad.

Arthur didn't look at her and stormed out of the room. Ariadne hurriedly followed him into the bedroom.

"Arthur, what is it? Is it Darcy? What's happened?" She almost started crying.  
"No, it's not about Darcy." Arthur said. He looked troubled and his hands were shaking.

"What is it?" Ariadne almost shouted.

"They ran my blood to test for a match. I'm not a match." Arthur said.

Ariadne waited. Surely this news should not have troubled the Point Man like this. Nothing shook the Point Man. In an unstable world, Arthur was always constant and strong.

"Arthur?" She prompted.

"I'm not a match because... according to the tests." he seemed to have trouble saying it. "According to the blood tests, there is no way I could be related to Darcy. I'm not her half brother."


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ "How can that be?" Ariadne said not understanding.

Arthur shook his head.

"Becky told you... that your father... even your dad admitted Darcy was his." Ariadne said trying to comprehend.

"Darcy." Arthur said softly. "No, Darcy_ is_ my father's daughter. She had his eyes. She has his eyes exactly. She looks like he did at that age. Darcy is the natural child of my dad and Becky."

Arthur was shaking his head.

"Then how? They must have made a mistake at the lab." Ariadne offered.

"No, they ran it twice just to be sure." Arthur said. "I'm not related to Darcy. I'm not her half brother."

The Point Man stood. He looked angry.

"The man I always thought was my father." He said stiffly. "I'm not his real son."

~ The Point Man and Architect didn't talk very much about this latest bomb shell. They had too much to worry about now. Darcy was getting sicker and the odds of finding a perfect bone marrow match were not in their favor.

"Darcy has a rare blood type. Means, a match will prove more difficult. We put her in the system, but after that, we can only hope a match will be on file." The doctor told them.

"What if we pay a donor. Money is _not_ an issue." Arthur said hopefully.

Ariadne nodded. They never talked too much about money before. It was just something they had. Now, it was a powerfl weapon they could use to save Darcy. There wasn't a thing money could not buy.

"We can hire someone to find a match. Pay that person to donate." Arthur said brightly.

"You would have to have access to blood types and it would be like a needle in a haystack. There is a very remote chance that any non relative would be a match." The doctor said sadly.

The Point Man fell back in his chair.

"We need to start treatment as soon as possible." The doctor at last.

Ariadne sat up a little straighter.

"Chemotherapy? Radiation?" She said weakly.

"Yes. It will buy is more time." the doctor said. "We have to stop the cell growth of the cancer."

~ Darcy sat in front of the bathroom mirror. Ariadne stood behind her too terrified to start snipping those long blond tresses she loved so much. Arthur had wrapped a towel around Darcy's shoulders as the Architect tried to think of the best way to start cutting.

"Maybe we should take her to the salon." Ariadne said worriedly.

"And have everyone stare at her?" Arthur said pulling a chair next to Darcy so he could be by his daughter's side.

"Does _all_ my hair have to come off?" Darcy asked.

Ariadne tried not to cry. She loved Darcy's wild, uncontrollable hair more then anything. She had pages of her sketchbooks devoted to drawings the tight ringlets of gold.  
"Yes. It has to all come off." Arthur said solemnly. "But, when all the treatments are over, it will grow back.

"How long will it take to grow back?" Darcy asked as Ariadne started to carefully snip a few curling locks that could never be tamed. She stowed them safely in a zip lock baggie and then started to slowly clip away each tendril on the rest of the little girl's head.

Darcy quietly watched her own reflection as the Architect's scissors cut close to the scalp.

"I don't know how long it will take to grow back, Honey." Arthur said honestly. The Point Man forced his face to brighten. "I think girls with short hair are very cute." He said.

"A lot of actresses cut their hair really short, and they look really nice." Ariadne offered holding back tears as snip, snip, snip went each lock of curls.

"We can make some really pretty head wraps for you. Like was saw on that web sight." Ariadne said.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

Darcy sat perfectly still as she watched her reflection transform. Slowly, the mass of wild curls vanished and she looked like a freshly shorn sheep.

Ariadne was trying not to cry as Arthur held the little girl's hand.

"Darcy, you look beautiful." He said kissing her almost bald head. Nothing but a faint buzz of hair remained now.

Darcy looked at her reflection for a long time. She looked nothing like herself now. Nothing like how she had always known herself.

"No. I don't like it." Darcy said as she started to cry. "I don't like it, Papa."

Arthur picked her up and allowed Darcy to sob for her loss of prized curls.

~ The chemotherapy was the worst. Darcy didn't like the time at the hospital. Her parents went with her, but there were other children there who made her afraid. Very sick children with large bald heads who had nose bleeds for no reason.

"Mommy I want to go home." Darcy would cry at seeing the other kids.

Their daughter had stopped calling her parents Mama and Papa. Turning to the more babyish titles of Mommy and Daddy now. A lot about Darcy's behavior seemed to be in regression. She wanted to cuddle with Arthur more. She had gone back to sucking her thumb and even bed wetting.

When the radiation left her totally bald, she stopped talking sometimes and made noises like Daniel did. A toddler too young to use words.

"Darcy, you're a big girl, now stop it!" Ariadne told her. "Talk like a big girl."

"Little girl!" Sadie scolded over breakfast. "No one likes a lady to act like a little monkey! Now sit up strait and cross your ankles while you sit. Never sit with your legs crossed. Only _whores_ cross their legs."

Darcy looked in silent awe at the leggy spider woman's use of language as she crossed her long legs at the knee.

"Sadie, please don't use words like that in front of Darcy." Ariadne said as Sadie went to light a cigarette.

"What? _Monkey_?" Sadie asked as Ariadne snatched the lighter away.

"No, the 'W' word." Ariadne said. Sadie had come back to herself little by little but still didn't move out. Still didn't want to live alone or see Eames. The Forger wanting desperately to talk to her. Arthur and Ariadne telling him to stay away.

"You mean whore? It's the 21st century. She has heard of whores before." Sadie turned to Darcy who watched the leggy spider woman with wide, gray eyes. "You know what a whore is? Don't you my Petit Singe?"

Darcy nodded.

"Sadie, don't you have work to go to?" Ariadne prompted.

Sadie sighed and proudly uncrossed her long legs. Her old style slowly returning. Her dress and hair still simple but offset now with fish net stockings.

"Alright. I'll leave." Sadie sighed as Darcy watched her go.

~ "I'm worried Sadie is a bad influence on Darcy." Ariadne said to Arthur that night. Darcy had been throwing up all day and Ariadne had taken a long, hot shower to wash away the smell of vomit and sweat.

Arthur couldn't think about Sadie right now. He had a child who was desperately ill, a pregnant wife who he had just started to reconciled with, and he had just found out he wasn't his father's son.

"I wonder who my real father was." Arthur said running a hand over Ariadne's belly. His wife starting to show slightly and the Point Man reveled in making contact with the slight swell of her abdomen.

"We can find out." Ariadne offered as Arthur's fingers tickled her skin. She tried not to giggle as his finger tips grazed over her belly.

"My mother is dead. How can we ever find out?" Arthur said as his hand snaked down to her pajama bottoms and rubbed her delicately. Making her hips move in time with his hands and fingers that invaded past her underwear and rubbed her sex.

"We..." She panted slightly and tried to think. "We can hire private detectives. Look... look into your mother's old friends." She gasped as her husband angrily stimulated her.

He seemed to enjoy watching her climax softly on his hand. His fingers rubbing her aggressively as she tired to calm down.

He didn't give her the chance to come down from her small orgasm as he stripped off her soaking wet panties and propped her legs up.

"I love you." He whispered to her as he moved off his pajama pants. His hands rubbing over her wetness as he stoked himself.

His poor wife moaning slightly as she was forced to submit to another round pleasure.

He ran his enlarged shaft over her wet opening before forcefully taking her. Making her take in a sharp breath and try to squirm away. The Point Man settling between her legs. Careful not to rest on her belly. Careful not to crush his unborn child as he ground into Ariadne like he was riding a horse.

"Arthur!" She cried as her hormonal body reacted sharply to his claiming her.

"I love you." He growled into her ear. "I love you so much." He said as he felt her inner walls tighten around him and he could no longer hold onto her.

He released himself fully into her. His body still careful not to rest fully on her as he kissed her over and over. Their bodies afraid to break contact for even a moment as they went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ Arthur poured over his mother's old letters to him. Most of them he read through. Each chronicling a life milestone. His first kiss, his graduation, his wedding day. All of it bringing back memories of his life without the ballerina that had died too young.

"Your mother was beautiful." Ariadne said looking at an old play bill featuring Audrey Daniels in a performance of _Swan Lake_.

"Yeah, she was." Arthur said sadly. He rarely looked at the old trunk that was full of his mother's yellowed newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, costumes and other things from her life.

Ariadne had never known the almost mythical creature that was Arthur's mother. She was only Ariadne's age when she died of a brain tumor. Leaving behind an 8 year old son who would become the Point Man.

Audrey Daniels had been a rare and exquisite beauty. Her slender frame was like Arthur's. Her legs and arms were long and graceful in a way Ariadne envied.

"New york City Ballet at only 10 years old?" Ariadne said in surprise as she read over the obituary. "She must have been really good."

"Were looking for friends of hers. Clues as to who my real father was." Arthur said pulling the yellowed newspaper away.

"Why don't you ever talk about your mother?" Ariadne asked.

"I didn't really know her." Arthur admitted.

He sighed and looked over old letters.

"I know she loved me, that's it." He admitted.

Ariadne pulled Audrey's trunk closer to her.

"Arthur, let me do this. You're a guy, you won't know what to look for. Besides, your her son, she wouldn't want you knowing her personal love life." Ariadne said with a smile.

Arthur looked as a dried and pressed day breaker rose. His mother's favorite flower.

_~ He was a little boy again. Dressed in a navy colored wool jacket. _

_ He remembered going to her dressing room. Down the halls of the ballet company. The other ballerinas fawning over him and patting his head and telling him he was a doll. Their costumes full of color and lace. All the dancers floating like clouds on tiny feet. _

_ His mother's dressing room was surrounded by day breaker roses. The only picture above her mirror was of Arthur. He knew he was her whole world and that she loved him. _

"_There you are, my sweet boy!" Audrey would sing and pull him on her lap. Her costume so pretty and sparkly. _

"_You have too much make up on, mommy!" Arthur would say. _

_ He didn't like the dark make up that made his mother look so strange. _

"_It's so people in the audience can see my face." Audrey laughed. "You don't like mommy to wear make up?" _

"_No." Arthur said and she laughed. _

_ The little boy loved to visit his mother here. It was a safe place. Everyone loved him backstage at the ballet company. The ballerinas making him dance with them. A man playing piano. _

"_Come and sit with me, Arthur." The man playing piano would say. He had an English accent and large hands with long fingers. "Sit with me on the bench here and we can watch your mother dance." _

_ Arthur remembered the man's hands perfectly. How gracefully and effortlessly they played piano for the dancers at practice. _

"_Look at your mother, Arthur. See how beautiful she dances." The man at the piano would say as Arthur would watch his mother float across the floor. Her body moving like water. The other dancers watching her and smiling. _

"_Look how beautiful your mother is, Arthur." The man said. ~_

~ The Point Man blinked and he was back sitting on the floor of the large closet with Ariadne. He started to riffle through the old pay bills.

"What is it?" Ariadne asked.

"The piano player. At practice. There was a man, he would play for practices and..." Arthur couldn't remember his name. Couldn't even remember his face.

He and Ariadne searched through old play bills.

"It would have been for_ Madam Butterfly_. I had to have been five or six at the time." Arthur said remembering his mother's heavy make up.

"There was only one performance of _Madam Butterfly._" Ariadne said finding the old playbill. "Starring Audrey Daniels and Tomas Ward."

The Architect looked over the picture of the lean, handsome man holding Audrey so passionately. A man any woman would have a passionate love affair with.

"Arthur, are you sure it's not _this_ guy?" Ariadne said looking impressed by the shirtless male dancer with his defined, muscular arms. Her eyes going wide.

"No, I remember him." Arthur laughed. "Tomas Ward was one of the more publicly 'out' gay men. He was one of the key leaders in the first gay pride parades. He was even at the stonewall riots in 1969."

"That's always how it is." Ariadne said bitterly. Her fingers tracing over the handsome jaw and perfect body.

"Sorry us strait men are not such Adonises." Arthur teased. The first real smile to come to his face in weeks.

"It's alright. I guess strait men can't help it." Ariadne said handing him the playbill. She didn't want to look at too handsome and with a boyfriend Tomas Ward.

Arthur looked over the orchestra pit names.

"Who played piano?" Ariadne asked.

"Althea Gross." Arthur said looking confused.

"Maybe you're remembering the wrong performance." Ariadne offered.

They searched through all of the play bills. Althea Gross was the piano player for all the performances and practices.

Ariadne did a quick search on the internet.

"Althea Gross was 98 years old, when she died in 1998." Ariadne sighed. "She was old even when your mother was there."

"I don't remember her." Arthur said sadly.

He remembered a man with large and graceful hands. He remembered long fingers. A man who wore a black tweed blazer. Who smelled of tobacco and who spoke with an English accent.

_ "Look at your mother dance, Arthur. Look how beautiful she is." _

~ The search into Arthur's past was a welcomed distraction. Darcy's treatments took a lot of of the little girl and her parents each day. Darcy would come home, sweating and sick. She would throw up, bruise easily and cry. She would want only Arthur to hold her most of the time. Dominic and Daniel not understanding what was happening to their big sister.

At night, when Darcy was asleep, Ariadne would pour over Audrey's diary entries.

"A boy named Jason Wills kissed her." Ariadne giggled looking over the girlish scrawl of Audrey's diary. Arthur's mother, at 13, had drawn little hearts over the i's of Jason's last name.

"Yeah, I don't think they would have made it that long. And Jason wasn't in the company at the time I would have been..." Arthur trialed off.  
"Conceived?" Ariadne offered. "You've fathered three children, Arthur. You know how these things happen."

"I know, but I don't like to think of my mother being the type of woman who..." Arthur let his sentence fade away. Not able to say it.

"Not the type of woman who was a _woman_? Who was capable of loving a man? A sexy, strong man who loved ballet and music? You're right, no woman could love that." Ariadne teased.

Arthur looked uncomfortable.

"Their hot bodies giving into passion and making a secret love child?" Ariadne laughed as her husband shushed her with a kiss.

"It's just so romantic if you think about it." Ariadne admitted pulling away from Arthur. "Your mother falling in love with the piano player. Her husband not loving her and they had you."

"Maybe. Why did she stay with my dad then? She was miserable with him." Arthur asked returning to his internet search.

"Maybe your real father didn't want a kid. Maybe he was already married." Ariadne offered.

"The man who played piano, he loved her." Arthur said. "I _know_ he loved her."

~ Darcy was getting worse. It was raining as her parents brought her home. The little girl screaming that her body hurt.

"Mommy!" Darcy cried as her face was hot all the time now.

"She needs to go to the hospital!" Ariadne said as she couldn't seem to break the fever.

The Point Man carryied his daughter to the car again as Darcy screamed that everything hurt.

~ In the emergency room they gave the little girl an IV and pain medication.  
"Daddy!" She cried as Arthur held her till she went to sleep.

"We're going to have to keep her. The treatments means her immune system has been compromised." The doctor said.

"Keep her for how long?" Ariadne asked after Arthur tucked the thin little girl into bed.

The doctor didn't have to tell them how long. Darcy wasn't getting better. The doctor didn't have to tell her parents she would be in the hospital till she died.

~ "You go to New York RIGHT NOW!" Ariadne shirked in the parking garage a few hours later. They were alone and it was late at night. The Architect's voice echoing through the cave like parking garage. "You go to New York and you get Becky to donate bone marrow! She has to be a match!"

Arthur tried to calm her.

"Ariadne." He tried to say as his pregnant wife was now hysterical.

"No! You go to Becky and BEG her to give Darcy her bone marrow. You do it! You tell her anything she wants to hear, give her money, have sex with her, you get her to save your daughter's life!" Ariadne screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ Becky was their only hope. Darcy's biological father, the man Arthur always thought was his father to, had no living relatives. Hopefully, Becky would be a match and be would willing to help.

Arthur was on a red eye to New York an hour later. He checked into a hotel before going to the woman's prison.

"I'll talk to her." He whispered to Ariadne over the phone. She had to stay with Darcy back in the Paris hospital and their two boys at home.  
"She _has to_ help Darcy. That's her child." Ariadne cried softly.

"How are you doing?" He said laying on his empty hotel bed. He was about to fall asleep and he missed his wife already.

"I'll be fine. I have the boys in bed with me. I'm not lonely." Ariadne laughed.

Arthur felt his body hurt. He wanted to be home with them. He never liked sleeping alone.

~ "It's a medical emergency." He explained to the Warden.

"I understand that." The lady Warden explained.

She was a no nonsense steel haired woman in her early 50's. Her body small and plump, but she seemed to think like a man in what must have been a hard job. Arthur liked her right away.

"Miss Lawson talks a lot about you in group therapy. She hasn't made much progress in knowing what is real and what is not."

"It was_ my_ home she broke into. It was _my_ wife she tried to kill." Arthur told her as he and the short Warden walked to the visiting area.

"She is due for release soon. She may get out early if the parole board thinks she has changed. Giving bone marrow to her only child will work in her favor. Are you sure there is no other alternative?"

"Trust me, I wouldn't be seeing her if there was another alternative." Arthur said.

His stomach was churning and he wanted to throw up.

~ Becky looked younger. Not so manic as the last time he saw her. Last he saw her was in his home in Paris after she had tried to murder Ariadne in the bathtub.

"Arthur, I'm so glad to see you." Becky said with a serene smile.

"Becky." Arthur said as she sat down opposite to him. Her hands reaching out for him. The Point Man pulled away. He didn't want to touch her.  
"Why didn't you come before?" Becky asked. Her face hurt.

Arthur looked into her chocolate eyes. He took in her freckles, her crooked smile. His heart loosened slightly at the memory of his first love.

"Becky, Darcy needs your help." Arthur said.

"What happened?" Becky asked. Curious but not scared or concerned. Not the face Ariadne made when she had listen to the doctors talk about Darcy.

Ariadne looked like a deer in the headlights over fears of Darcy's health. Becky only seemed mildly interested in her only child. It was like Arthur was telling her the plot to a movie.

"She has leukemia and she isn't responding to the treatments. She needs bone marrow." Arthur said.

"You're technically her half brother. You can do that." Becky said in a dreamy voice.

"I'm not a match. I-" he couldn't tell Becky anything personal about himself.

"John always knew you weren't his real son." Becky said in a hateful, tormenting voice.

Arthur's head snapped up.

"He always knew your mother was a whore. Why he hated her so much. Why he hated you both so much." Becky said with a shrug.

"Becky, Darcy is _your_ daughter, she needs your help." Arthur pleaded.

"_Our_ daughter." Becky said looking hurt. "She calls you papa. She loved you like a father the first time you met her. I was watching the two of you meet that day at my house. I was so happy. I had been waiting for you to come back and meet our daughter. To come home and be a father to her. I never worry about her because I know you're taking care of her. Until I get out and we can be a family again."

Arthur felt ready to throw up. He loved Darcy. He loved her enough to do this for her.

"Becky. Please help Darcy. Please... please help_ our_ daughter." Arthur whispered.

His stomach soured as Becky's eyes fluttered and she looked like she was on a wonderful drug.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that. When I'm out, I'll come to Paris and we can go back to the way things were. I want you to know I forgive you for being with that other woman. I know you were lonely and you felt like you had to marry her." She said.

"Becky." Arthur growled. "I need you to give Darcy bone marrow."

"I know you do, Arthur." She said sadly. "But don't you see? This is natures way of fixing my mistake. This is our chance to start over. To erase what I did. To give us a fresh start. When I'm out, we can be together. We can start over."

"Becky!" Arthur shouted making the short lady Warden jump.

"Arthur, it's will be fine. This is meant to be. Darcy was just a mistake. I know you love her but we can start fresh now! I _forgive_ you for that other woman. We can start our own family as soon as she and Darcy are out of the way. As soon as all of them are out of the way!" Becky pleaded.  
"You fucking BITCH!" Arthur shouted and stood.

He wanted to throttle Becky and must have made a reach for her, because the next thing he knew, guards were pulling him away.

"You BITCH!" He was shouting. "You won't life a finger to save your daughter's life? You BITCH!" He shouted as Becky was crying and saying she still loved him.

~ The Warden handed him a hot cup of tea.

"All she talks about is you. Saying how you're waiting for her when she gets out." The short lady said.

Arthur could barely hold his cup. He had never been so angry.

"My daughter is going to die." Arthur said. Remembering how thin and sick Darcy was looking. Her wild hair gone and she looked like a strange alien.

"I'm so sorry." The short Warden said.

"When will Becky get out?" He asked.

"A year or two. There is a restraining order against her for you and your wife, but that might not stop her." the Warden said soberly.

"How are they letting her out?" Arthur asked in disbelief.

"Good behavior. Responsive in group. Not to mention the fact we are overloaded and the crime happened in another country. Her passport will not be made available to her. But she can still get to you if she wanted to."

Arthur stood up and left the woman's prison. How could he tell Ariadne he failed their daughter?

~ Arthur didn't go back to the hotel room. Instead he went to McClain's office.

"So good to see you, Son." The family lawyer said giving him a hug. "How is Darcy doing?"

"Not well. She needs a bone marrow and Becky might be a match. But she's refusing to even be tested. She _wants_ Darcy to die." Arthur said angrily. He had never been filled with this much hatred for someone in his entire life. He could never forgive Becky now. If Darcy died, Arthur felt sure he would die to.

"Can we force her to be tested and give bone marrow?" Arthur asked.

"No." McClain said sadly.

"She's in prison. She can't have too many rights. We can get a judge to make her." Arthur argued.

"You can't force someone to donate anything. You can't force them to even give a sample. I'm sorry." McClain said.

The Lawyer looked over the Point Man.  
"How are things with you and Ariadne?" He asked at last.  
"Better." Arthur admitted.

"Yes. Nothing makes a marriage stronger then fighting for a child's life." The lawyer admitted.

"I wanted to be able to donate bone marrow, but we found out that I'm not really Darcy's half brother. I'm not really my father's child." Arthur said wryly.

He looked at McClain. The old lawyer, who had know the Point Man all of his life, looked at his fat, pudgy hands.

"The less said about that out load, the better. Your father's estate and will might be called into question if other people found out." McClain said somberly.  
"You _knew_." Arthur said. It wasn't a question or an accusation. "You knew I wasn't his."

"Course I knew. I knew your mother since she was 19 and first on the society pages with John. He treated her like a trophy girlfriend, then a trophy wife. That's all she ever was to him."

"How could you never tell me? Even after he died?" Arthur asked. He was calm and collected. All his anger was used up.

"If I did that, the will, the company, would have been divided up and your entire inheritance would have been lost. He was the only father you knew. How would it help you to know the truth?" McClain said sadly.

"Because it's my_ life_!" Arthur reasoned angrily. "I need to know where I came from. Just like Darcy will one day. I need to know who my real father was. Why he didn't want me."

"He wanted you. But your mother was too terrified to leave John. You remember what the old man was like. He threatened to take you away from her. He could have made good on that threat to. Money buys anything. There isn't a thing on earth money can't buy."

"McClain, who was my father?" Arthur asked.  
"I never knew him." McClain said.

"The hell you didn't." Arthur said. His voice was accusing now.

The old lawyer sighed.

Arthur shook his head.

"I remember a man. He was at the ballet company. He played the piano, he had an English accent." Arthur started to say. Memories of girls in fluffy tutus running around. His beautiful mother. A man with long fingers and an English accent. A man who smelled of tobacco. Of being safe and happy there in that place.

"_Look at your mother dance, Arthur. Isn't she beautiful?"_

"No, I can't help you." McClain said breaking Arthur's thoughts. "I'm sorry."

"You have been closer to me then anyone, I am asking you to help me find out who this man was." Arthur said standing up as McClain also stood and waddled out of the room.

"I'm sorry Arthur." McClain said leaving his office.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~ Arthur stood outside the the New York City Ballet. A stunning Art Deco style building that, while his mother was alive, it had been a place of warmth and safely. A place of music, dance and magic. After her death, he never came back here.

He was surprised to find the doors were unlocked apparently there was some kind of try out for the annual production of _The Nutcracker_. Little girls and boys were waiting in line to audition. All of them very young and overly adorable in various costumes. Arthur thought of Darcy in her dance costumes and felt his chest tighten.

He found a small, thin young woman with a clip board and approached her.

"Excuse me." He whispered.  
"You'll need to wait in line. Mr. Ward will see your child shortly." She said to him in a bossy voice. The tiny woman had the body of a 13 year old but had to be in her late 40's at least.  
"_Thomas_ Ward?" Arthur questioned.

"Of course. He's been with the company for decades and he won't give your child any preferential treatment." She said as she eye balled all the stage mothers like they were an advancing army.

"My child is not auditioning for anything. My name is Arthur. My mother was Audrey Daniels." The Point Man said.

~ It was amazing how the tiny ballerina's attitude changed when she found out who he was.

"I remember you when I first came to the company. I was no older then some of the kids trying out today. You were just this little boy running around back stage like you were home." The woman told him pleasantly.

"I always thought fondly of this place." Arthur said as the tiny ballerina took him to the practice area.

"You probably don't remember me, it was so long ago. My name is Evangeline Dahl. My stage name of course. Everyone called me Evie."

"Hello, Evie."

"We hoped to see you after your mother passed away. Thomas was just so broken up about her passing." She said as, on perfect, graceful, little feet, Evie skipped down the aisle like gravity were nothing.

"Thomas!" She called as a tall and slender man was casually watching a pair of six year old try and keep rhythm with a piano player.

Arthur could not help but look at the person playing. A faint, distant hope to see large hands and a black tweed jacket. The form behind the keys was a grumpy looking woman who kept pounding out the same chorus as the director watched for any potential in the pee-wee dancers who would play faeries, mice and angels for the production.

"Evie! I am busy! _Again!_ He commanded the little girls in pink. And learn your left from right, please!" The tall, muscular man said with exaggerated exhaustion.

The little girls looked ready to cry as they started the number again.

Evie wadded into the seats and whispered something in the director's ear. He immediately snapped to attention.

"That's lunch!" he called out.

The chubby piano player looked at him in shock as the director stood and gracefully skipped out of the seats.

Thomas Ward had not changed at all since Arthur remembered him. He had a few more gray hairs, a few more lines to his face, but he was instantly recognizable.

"Arthur? Oh my!" He said in a feminine delight as Evie looked on. A big smile on her face. "Look at you. So like Audrey! Oh how I miss her! Where have you been? Why haven't you called or come by to see us before now! Don't you know how much we loved you?" He said scooping the Point Man up in a warm hug and not letting go.

~ Arthur had to admit it was nice to be back in his mother's world.

Thomas had his assistant finish the auditions as took Arthur to lunch in the elegant restaurant that catered to the company dancers only.

Arthur looked at the large portraits of New York City's greatest dancers hanging on the walls of the exclusive club. All of them were done in oil and stood proudly on the rich wallpaper. His mother's portrait held a pride of place over the exclusive _Audrey Daniels booth_ Thomas sat them in. Half a dozen day breaker roses were placed on the table under her image.

"I always sit here. I like to be close to Audrey." Thomas said as he ordered them a light lunch.

Arthur looked up at his beautiful mother. Her costume pink and and sage green. Little roses were laced into her dark hair as she stood elegantly on her toes. One graceful arm extended upward, her other arm reaching below. Her back and head looking like she might lose balance they were dipped so far back. It was a difficult pose to do, but her body was beautiful and fluid even in the portrait.

"We all loved her." Thomas said sadly. "It was such a tragedy. Her death. We put on the production of _Sleeping Beauty_ in her memory. It was her favorite you know."

"Really?" Arthur said and smiled. He looked over the day breaker roses at the table. They were just starting to wilt.

"Her favorite flowers." Thomas explained. Reading Arthur's thoughts. "I can't tell you how many arrived after she passed. We had no idea how many admirers she had. The roses actually sold out of flower shops and they had to send more!" Thomas laughed.

"Fans still send them? After all these years?" Arthur asked nodding to the fresh flowers.

Thomas pretended he didn't hear.

"Now, tell me what is going on with you! I haven't seen you since you were 8 years old and being tortured by this little girl at school. What was her name?" Thomas asked.  
"Becky." Arthur said bitterly.

"Tell me everything that has happened to you. I want every detail, I keep wondering about you and now you're here!" Thomas said in a gossipy voice of happiness.

So, Arthur explained about his long relationship with Becky. He explain how it ended. His mother's old friend gasping in horror at the drama of it. Arthur told him about Ariadne. Getting married and his father passing. About adopting Darcy and having the two boys.

"Daniel was born blind, but he's in a special school now. He's learning, and it's been really great for him." Arthur said reluctantly.

"I saw you in the paper. When the old dragon died." Thomas said. "Sorry, I know it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, but your father was a terrible... well... _troll_!" Thomas said and looked ashamed of himself.

Arthur laughed.

"I mean, he should have been living under a bridge or something! Your mother deserved better." Thomas said.

"Yes, well, I hadn't seen him in a long time." Arthur admitted.

"I also read about how you saved his company. Business news always boars the pants off me, but I saw your picture and I just flashed Audrey!" Thomas said waving his hands happily. "Your wife is so beautiful! Is she a model or actress? She has this face to die for!"

"No, she studied architecture." Arthur said. "But I plan to tell her you said that when I get home to Paris." Arthur laughed.  
"Paris!" Thomas exclaimed. "I heard you were living in Paris. Alright, I forgive you for not stopping by sooner. Paris is a bit of a schlep."

"Thomas." Arthur said after awhile. The two had eaten and were enjoying the view of city. "Darcy, my father's natural daughter, she was diagnosed four months ago with leukemia."

"Oh dear God!" Thomas said in horror. His hands to his chest. "I'm so, so sorry! You poor little lamb! Your mother, and now your little girl!"

"It's alright, were looking into bone marrow and she's getting treatment." Arthur said as his mother's friend looked like he might cry.

"The thing is, I'm supposed to be her half brother. But, when I got tested for a DNA match for bone marrow, the lab said there was no way I could be related to her. She_ is _Becky's daughter and she has my father's- she has_ John's_ eyes. I know she's his biologically. It got me to thinking that John might not be my real father." Arthur said as Thomas was looking at his tea cup and not at Arthur.

The male ballet dancer looked ready to cry. He looked up at the portrait of Audrey.

"Oh Audrey, please forgive me. I know I promised I would never breath a word of this to anyone. But he needs to know." Thomas cried.

~ Arthur waited with Thomas until the elegant little dinning room was empty.

"Back in the late 70's this place was completely different. It wasn't so reserved as it is now. The young people ran the show. There was new ideas and exploration. People did theater nude and it was just a much happier time. Your mother and I were both 16 and life was so wonderful. She was this shy but _brilliant_ dancer. I was her leading man in every production. We danced so well together, like we were in love or something. She was my best friend and we stuck together and protected each other. There is nothing like working with your best friend. It's not even work when it's with someone you love." Thomas smiled.

Arthur nodded. That was how he felt when he worked with Ariadne.

"Anyway, she started to date your father. I never knew what she saw in him. He was so much older then her. She was only 19 and he was 30. It was ridiculous. But he got her into the clubs and she looked good on his arm. I never thought it was serious. When he wanted to marry her, I begged her not to. I didn't like how controlling he was. He would have her driver take her to practice and then she had to call him when she go there. Call him at break and call him at lunch. Then, call him before the driver picked her up. She was never allowed to go anywhere alone." Thomas explained.

Arthur remembered how cruel and controlling John could be.

"She thought it meant he loved her, but there is a difference between someone who loves you and a controlling... _Dick_. That man saw Audrey as his possession, not his wife. It wasn't her fault she sought comfort elsewhere." Thomas explained. "She was only human."

"Comfort? With who?" Arthur asked. His heart was beating fast. So close now. He was so close to answers.

"His name was Albert Castus." Thomas said.  
"He played the piano? He was British?" Arthur asked.

"You remember him?" Thomas asked in surprise.

"I remember a man. He played the piano and... I knew he cared for my mother." Arthur explained.

"He loved her. They had a passionate love affair. He was just a poor student at NYU. He was studying music and art. He worked here when Alfie took sick and they put her in the nursing home."

"Alfie?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, sorry, before your time. Althea Gross. She had been playing piano in the orchestra for 60 years. They even named the damned the pit the _Althea Gross Orchestra Pit_. We thought Alfie would get better, why we never took her off the programs. It would have crushed her to see she had been replaced. Also, Albert was just a student, and the people who ran things back then didn't want to give credit to a young, foreign born student. No matter if he was more talented then any piano player I've seen." Thomas explained in a catty conspiratorial voice.

"Albert Castus." Arthur murmured.

"After your mother passed away, he left the company. Back to England and I don't know anymore." Thomas said sadly.

"Why didn't I ever know about any of this?" Arthur asked. "You knew who my real father was, you never said a word."

"Audrey made me promise never to tell you. I knew all her secrets. I told her you had to know someday, but she was so scared of John. The old beast said he would have his lawyer, the fat ass McClain prove she was an unfit mother. That McClain would tie custody up in courts so long that Audrey would be penniless and still lose you. She never trusted McClain because she knew he would do whatever your father wanted." Thomas explained.

Arthur had to sit back. McClain had always been a good friend to Arthur and his family. Never would he have thought that the old lawyer would do such a thing.

"Why didn't they just run away together?" Arthur asked in shock. "When she found out she was pregnant? Did he not want me?"

"Albert want to. Believe me! He was so happy when he found out about you. But, John would have found them. Found them with ease. Your real father was a poor kid here on a work and student visa. He had nothing to offer your mother. All they had in the world was you and this place." Thomas said raising his hands above his head indicating the company. "She would bring you here, and he could see you. For those few hours, you three were a family. He love you and your mother so much."

Thomas got a little misty eyes.

"Bull shit." Arthur suddenly snapped.

Thomas sat back. Shocked.

"I'm a father. I'm a husband. I love my wife and my children more then anything. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. I would never allow my children to think another man was their father. I would never allow their mother to live with a horrible man just because of money. I was his child, he should have fought for me. He should have fought for us." Arthur said as he stood up.

Thomas was begging him to stay, but the Point Man swiftly left the dinning room. Not even looking back at his mother's portrait.

He never felt so betrayed by his mother. Why hadn't she done more to protect him? Why had she allowed him to live alone with the dragon, knowing he had a real father out there?


	6. Chapter 6

6.

~ The Point Man made one last plea to Becky to help Darcy. His former childhood sweetheart looking sad, but happy to see him.  
"Are you going to yell at me again?" She asked in a baby voice that made the Point Man grind his teeth.  
"No, Becky. But if Darcy lives, we can be a family. You and I. You know I think of her as mine." Arthur said gently.

He would tell Becky whatever would get his daughter the bone marrow. He felt sick to his stomach to lie to her like this. To promise her something he would never do. The idea of a life with Becky was too disgusting to picture.

"Alright." Becky said leaning over and kissing him.

Arthur couldn't believe he didn't hit her as soon as her sticky, dry lips touched his cheek.

"I'll do it." She whispered. Her breath on his ear making him uncomfortable.

~ Arthur had the clinic in New York run tests on Becky's blood sample and determined she wasn't a match.

"Are you sure?" Arthur asked. He felt like his body had been beaten. He had no strength left. He couldn't keep fighting for his daughter.

"I'm sorry, but an AB- blood type is very rare. Only 1% of the entire population has it." The lab tech said.

~ Arthur took another non stop flight back to Paris.

It was night when he finally came home. Ariadne was in their bed with the boys sleeping with her. Now that Darcy was in the hospital, they could spend more time with their other children. The nanny had been taking care of the boys most days. Picking them up from school and keeping them out of the way, as Arthur and Ariadne focused on Darcy full time.

Ariadne woke up as her husband climbed into bed with them. He didn't want to disturb the boys, so he molded his body around the sleeping children who were sprawled out like lazy cats beside their mother.

"How did it go?" Ariadne whispered in the darkness.

"Becky wasn't a match." Arthur told her sadly.

Their bedroom was dark and still as Daniel's light snoring was the only sound to be heard.

"How is Darcy doing?" Arthur asked.

"Not good. She's hurting from all the radiation. Doctors say if she doesn't get the bone marrow soon, it will be too late." Ariadne whispered.

They didn't want to wake the boys. Both of them were too tired to cry.

~ The next day was Ariadne's sonogram. With all of Darcy's problems, it had been hard to think about the new baby.

"The little one won't move." The sonogram tech joked as Ariadne's large belly was exposed to the ultra sound machine.

"Come on, move and let's see what you have." The lab tech pleaded.

The baby was in such a position that it made the sex very hard to see.

"He or she is very modest, and the cord is right there." The tech explained in frustration.

"Other then being modest, how do things look?" Ariadne asked.

The Point Man stood by her side as they watched the shape of a head, arms and legs come into view.

"Perfect. Everything looks good and the heart is beating strong. Unfortunately, we won't know if the baby will be visually impaired until birth. There are just no tests for that." The tech said.

"It's alright." Arthur said as he watched his son or daughter flex long fingers in Ariadne's uterus.

"Come on, show me." The tech pleaded. "Got it!" She shouted in joy.

"What?" Ariadne asked in surprise as all she saw was a mass of shadows.

"Right here. You have a girl!" The tech pronounced.

~ "Stop looking so smug!" Ariadne chastised Arthur as they went to visit Darcy in the cancer ward.

"Can't help it." Arthur laughed. They were still in the maternity ward and the Point Man walked a little straighter as they passed by the new babies in the display window.

Ariadne giggled as she smoothed her hands over her belly.  
"What did you promise Becky?" She asked in a whisper.  
"I told her we would be a family when she got out." Arthur admitted.

Ariadne looked at him. No anger was in her eyes, only understanding. Arthur shrugged.

"At this point, I'm willing to make any deal with the devil." Arthur explained.

The walked in silence for a while.

"I found out who my real father was." Arthur said suddenly.

"What?" Ariadne asked in shock.

Arthur nodded.  
"I was in New York and I visited my mother's old dance company. Her friend Thomas-"

"The one with the body?" Ariadne interrupted looking happy and excited.

"Yes. The one with the body. He thought you were an actress or model by the way." Arthur said in a bored tone that humored his wife.

"Really?" Ariadne asked delightedly. "Did he say it just to be nice, or do you think he meant it?" She asked happily.  
"Ariadne." Arthur said in exasperation that she was missing the bigger picture.

"Sorry. You were saying about your real dad." Ariadne said having the decency to look a little ashamed.

"He said that Althea Gross was in a nursing home at the time and the owners didn't want to take her off the program. They hired an NYU student from Britain. His name was Albert Castus." Arthur explained.

"Are you going to try and find him?" Ariadne asked.

"That man allowed me to grow up in a home where I wasn't loved after my mother died. I would never do that to my children. I would never allow them to think some... _monster_ was their real father. After my mother died, why didn't he fight for me?" Arthur asked. He was still angry.

"Maybe he felt he couldn't." Ariadne offered.

"No." Arthur said stubbornly. "There is nothing I wouldn't do for Darcy or the boys. If he loved my mother even a little, he would have made an effort to keep me. He would have let me know I was his long before now."

~ The cancer ward had a horrible smell to it. It hit the nose right away and seeped into the clothing. Ariadne held her large belly more securely as they wandered down the brightly colored halls meant to cheer the kids up.

~ "You're going to have a little sister." Ariadne told Darcy. The little girl was looking painfully thin and her skin was gray. Gone was the happy child she had been a few months ago. She looked like some kind of ghost now.

"A girl?" Darcy asked. A tired smile coming to her face.

Ariadne nodded as Arthur tried not to cry at the sight of the once energetic child.

"So you have to get better. I need your help. Dominic and Daniel have each other, this baby needs her big sister to help her and tell her what to do. Okay?" Ariadne asked.

Darcy said nothing. Her gray eyes looking worried and thoughtful.  
"Mommy, I've been thinking a lot about this." Darcy said after a while. "If I die soon, I want Dominic to have my iPad. I think I want Daniel to have my stuffed animals. The new baby can have all my Barbie dolls and my old room. It's the kind of room she might like."

"Darcy, you're _not_ dieing." Arthur growled.

"A little boy died yesterday. His name was Will. He died and he was younger then me. He planned out his funeral and everything. He left his brothers all his toys." Darcy explained. "He felt better about dieing when he did that."

"Darcy." Arthur said sternly as if she were in trouble.

"I want to be buried with my bear. The one Daddy gave me when I came to live here. I like that bear."

"Darcy!" Arthur shouted as Ariadne started to cry silently.

"I think I want to be buried in my ballet costume. The one with the pink and red roses. We can put the sash around my head so no one will see I don't have any hair." Darcy explained.

Arthur couldn't take it. He could handle being shot at in dreams. He could handle a girlfriend who had a child with his own father, a blind son, a ruined company, an estrangement from his wife, and finding out his whole life was a lie.

He could_ not _handle burying his daughter. He left Darcy and Ariadne. The Point Man on the verge of losing control.

He was out in the hall trying to collect himself when the tell tell click, clack of the leggy spider woman's heels echoed down the hall.

"Well, what's wrong now?" Sadie sighed. Her make up slowly coming back as her eye lids were painted with a dark liner. She rolled her eyes in exaggerated exasperation.

Arthur sniffed and held the tears back.

"Not now, Sadie." He said. There were times he could not stand this woman, and he hated her now more then ever before.  
"Arthur?" Ariadne said slipping out of their daughter's hospital room. The Point Man turned his face away from his wife. He was crying now and didn't want her to see.

"Sadie, what are you doing here?" Ariadne asked the spider woman.

"I'm here to see Petit Singe." Sadie explained showing a large shopping bag. "We were going to play with Barbie." She said as if that were obvious.

"Now is not a good time, Sadie." Arthur said gravely. He still couldn't face his wife. Couldn't look at her at all. He pretended to have a great interest in the window as Ariadne stood behind him.  
"Darcy isn't doing so well." Ariadne explained.

"Well, why not?" Sadie said petulantly. As if she were a child who didn't get her way. "I thought you were going to get her that _bone _thing."

"Sadie." Ariadne chastised as Arthur looked at the spider woman murderously.

"What?" Sadie asked not understanding.

"Darcy, has a very rare blood type. We can't find a match. It's hard to get anyone with an AB- blood type now." Ariadne explained as if Sadie were a child.

Sadie harrumphed.

"Oh stop acting like Darcy is so special. It's not that rare. I'm AB- negative and you don't hear me bragging about it." The spider woman said looking over her shopping bag.

Ariadne eyed her old friend.

Arthur slowly turned and glared at Sadie.

Their savior felt the Point Man and Architect's eyes on her. She looked up to see them eyeballing her like cannibals.

"What?" Sadie asked.

~ "Well, is it going to hurt?" Sadie complained loudly.

A quick blood worked revealed Sadie _was_ a match for Darcy. The spider woman was rushed into a small surgical ward and the Architect gave her a paper gown.

"Yellow?" Sadie barked close to tears at the sight of it. "You know I don't like this color. This gown will make me look so _fat_!" Sadie whined.

"_Shut up and strip_!" Ariadne barked as she was ready to pull her own hair out.

"Fine!" Sadie said bitterly. The leggy spider woman not caring about the view the staff had of her. She striped herself totally naked. Even her underwear was felled as Ariadne rolled her eyes.  
"Ma'am, you don't have to be nude for this." The male tech said in embarrassment. His eyes glued helplessly to Sadie's body.

"You sound just like my yoga instructor!" Sadie told him as Ariadne helped her into a gown.

The spider woman saw the needle they would use to take the bone marrow out of her spine.  
"_That's_ what they use?" She cried out in horror.

"Yes, now get on the table!" Ariadne almost cried. Her hands going to her hair again. Ready to pull it out. Tears had made her make up run.

"Alright fine! Lucky for you I dated Eames, so I'm used to being drilled with large things!" Sadie barked.

"Sadie! Get on the table for the love of GOD!" Ariadne pleaded.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ The transplant was harder on Darcy then Sadie. The risk of rejection was great and the whole procedure had been extremely painful. The little girl had to stay in the hospital for months afterward and even had to wear a face mask.

The whole ordeal was horrible because there was an entire month that Arthur was sure Darcy would die anyway. She looked so sick and frail. It seemed like the transplant was doing more harm then good.

Then, one day, Darcy ate all her breakfast. The day after, she walked to the bathroom by herself. She wanted to play Barbies with Ariadne and Sadie again. She wanted to sit in the sunshine. She walked all over the cancer ward before getting tired and Arthur had to carry her back to her room.

"I think I might get better, Papa." Darcy whispered in his ear as he put her back into bed. It was as if it was a choice she had made.

~ Ariadne was due any day when the doctor's told them the leukemia was in remission. It was still a long way away from being totally gone, but there was no need for more treatments.

~ Arthur was in love with a beautiful girl named Drew. He counted her pink toes and fingers over and over as his wife watched them from her hospital bed. Drew made nice baby sounds as she slept in her father's arms. Her body was warm and wrapped in powder pink that made her dark hair stand out.

"Well?" Ariadne asked as her husband looked adoringly at their daughter.

"She's so perfect." Arthur whispered. A wide grin on his face.

"No blindness this time." Ariadne sighed happily. Drew had been checked over for the same problems that had affected Daniel right after her birth.

"I would love her no matter what." Arthur sighed as he kissed his new daughter on the lips. Drew stirred a little at her father's touch, then went back to sleep.

The Architect relaxed into her bed as she watched them.

"Now that Darcy is on the mends, and the baby is here, we need to talk." She said sadly. She was still tired from the ordeal of birth.

"What about?" Arthur asked as he gently placed Drew in her warm, plastic hospital crib. The baby not even stirring as she slept.

"You know what about." Ariadne said. "We had to focus on Darcy and her illness. That doesn't change what happened with us."

Arthur sighed and straightened up. He looked at his new daughter. The love was perfect, instant and unbreakable.

"You want me to move back out?" Arthur asked. He looked at his wife's hands. She was wearing her wedding ring again. The bright blaze of sapphire catching the light. The shine of her silver bangle bracelet on her wrist.

"No." She told him. "But I think we need to go to marriage counseling. We've had a betrayal of trust that we had to put aside as we took care of Darcy. Now, that she's doing better, we need to address our own problems. We can't just ignore them."

"I thought... I thought we had moved past it." Arthur said uncomfortably.

"We stopped talking about it, for Darcy's sake. Arthur, you violated my mind. You made me have a baby when I told you I didn't want to get pregnant again. Do you have any idea how that made me feel? What if it had been me that extracted _your_ secrets? What if I had been the one to get pregnant against _your _wishes?" Ariadne said.

Arthur sighed.

"Fine. Marriage counseling, whatever you want. Whatever you want, I'll do. But I'm not moving back out. I have you, and I have four children who need me." Arthur told her.

Ariadne nodded.

The Point Man moved closer to her and brushed back her dark hair.

"Ariadne, I love you, very much. I will do anything you ask to keep you in my life." He whispered. His lips roaming to her ear and kissing her.

She moved away slightly.

"I've contacted Albert Castus, and told him about you." Ariadne whispered.

Arthur sat back as if she had bitten him.

"You did what?" He asked in shock.

"He lives in London. He wants to meet you. I want our children to know their grandfather." Ariadne explained.

Arthur gaped at his wife. They sat in silence as a nurse knocked on the door and cheerily asked if she could take the baby back to the nursery again. The pink bundle being wheeled away and leaving her parents alone to talk.

"Ariadne, how could you do that? You know I didn't want to talk to that man. How... how could you do this?" Arthur asked.

Ariadne looked at him with a cold and steady glare.

"I'm sorry. Did that betray your trust?" She asked cattily.

A certain gleam in her eyes that told her husband she knew exactly what she was doing.

~ Cobb was looking at the new babies when a shocked and numb Point Man joined him.

"Congratulations, Arthur." Cobb said looking at Drew sleeping. The other babies were crying, but Drew slept peacefully.

Arthur didn't even take in what Cobb said.

In times like these, he would always talk to Cobb about what was going on in his world. Now, he couldn't get the words out.

What had Ariadne done? All for vengeance?

"Arthur?" Cobb asked. "Are you alright?"

Arthur nodded. He had explained what Ariadne had done. The Extractor already knowing the ugly details about Arthur's real father.

"She did it to get back at me. For the inception." Arthur said bitterly. He looked at his new daughter. How perfect she was.

"It's not always about you." Cobb told him in a toneless voice. "It doesn't always have to be about you."

Arthur looked at his oldest friend. Something was off about Cobb. The Extractor's normally immaculate appearance was different. More slovenly.

"Cobb, what is it?" Arthur breathed.

Cobb stared at the babies.

"I know you have been so focused on Darcy. You had to focus on her. Now, you have to focus on Drew. I didn't expect you to notice." Cobb said sadly. "Not right away at least."

"Cobb?" Arthur asked again. "What's happened?"

"Why aren't you asking where Sarah is? Haven't you noticed Sarah hasn't been here for a while? Why aren't you a little curious as to where she and Katie are?" Cobb asked holding back tears.

"Cobb, where are Sarah and Katie?" Arthur whispered worriedly.

**~ END ~**

**I know! EVIL!**

** LOL. I want to finished "Dream Walkers", but I got so caught up in the idea of this story that I was really distracted. Plus, my friend Sarah, yes that Sarah, read it and now she teases me all the time. **

"**He's not here, YOU'RE HERE!" **

** Which I guess is pretty funny and cheesy. **

** Almost as cheesy as the Fifty Shades book. I still can not believe that shit out sold Harry Potter. They're not even that good. But what the hell do I know?**

** Which brings me to my next project, Arthur rescues Ariadne from an abusive relationship. I pay special attention to Fifty Shades in this upcoming fan request story. Dont worry, I will come back to our family. **

** My friend Sarah has had a hard year and she is the nicest person that ever lived. I told her I was making her a character in one of my stories and she digs the fact she would be hooking up with Leo DiCaprio. Life can't be that bad when you have that.**

** She is as awesome in real life as I've described her in the story. **

** Whenever I write about Arthur's mother, I always picture Summer Glau. I like the fact she is a real ballerina. I've always pictured Arthur's mother as a dancer. That's why he can move around spinning hallways with ease. Also, I really think JGL and Glau look alike. It might be just me. **

** In the movie "King Arthur" with Clive Owen, Arthur's last name is Castus. I've never given my characters last names, or fist names in Eames' case, unless they were specified in the film. But since Nolan derived the name Arthur after the great king who slept for 1,000 years only to awaken when needed, I decided to kind of give him a last name. **

** Long story short, the family's last name is not Castus. **

** Edwina Sharp will be in the next installment. Don't worry. I do have plans for her. **

** As for Miles, I haven't done a lot with him. In fact, nothing at all in this series. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I've introduced so many new characters. **

** Thank you all so much for reading. **


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